Corrugated. It’s not just a brown box.

Corrugated is a complete, high-performance material design, manufacturing and delivery system. Corrugated is the preferred packaging material because it is:

• Durable
• Versatile
• Lightweight with a high strength-to-weight ratio
• Sustainable
• Environmentally Responsible
• Made from a Renewable Resource
• Customizable
• Protective
• Graphically Appealing
• Cost-Effective

So what is it? A High-Tech Engineered Material.

What may come as a big surprise to many is that the ever-present corrugated box is high-tech:

• Ongoing R&D programs continuously improve such characteristics as strength-to-weight ratios, printability, moisture barriers and recyclability.
• Corrugated components, designs and end products are manufactured on sophisticated, automatic equipment that reduces costs and ensures consistent performance.
• The vast majority of corrugated products are designed and prototyped with advanced, computer-aided design and manufacturing systems, providing customers with the best and most cost-effective solutions to their packaging challenges.

Infinitely Customizable.

Corrugated offers thousands of possible combinations of board types, flute sizes (caliper), basis weight, adhesives, treatment and coatings, including flame retardant and static control protection.

Corrugated is the only rigid shipping container and packaging medium that can be cut and folded into an infinite variety of shapes and sizes and direct-printed with high-resolution color graphics (including lithography, flexography and silk screening). Corrugated is custom-designed to fit specific product protection, shelf space and shipping density requirements (including inner packaging that prevents shifting).

Tenaciously Protective.

Corrugated combines structural rigidity with superior cushioning qualities. Corrugated containers nest products in an optimally protective environment, so even heavy or fragile contents arrive undamaged.

Corrugated offers excellent tear, tensile and burst strength to withstand shipping pressures. It resists impact, drop and vibration damage while offering uniform stacking and weight distribution so the load stays put.

Corrugated can be designed to contain flowable, granular or loose bulk products and even hazardous materials. It is also used to ship liquids and fresh foods, with the addition of removable liners that serve as moisture barriers.

All this from a material that is lightweight, low-cost, reusable and recyclable.

Graphically Appealing.

Corrugated containers and packaging are mobile billboards that create product image wherever they travel. Corrugated displays are eye-catching modular units that can be set up quickly and recycled at the end of a promotion.

Corrugated is a very flexible medium that accommodates a wide range of printing options to support the end-use requirement:

• Offset lithography and rotogravure (high-volume)
• Flexography or letterpress (shorter runs)
• Silk screening (displays)
• Corrugated can be direct printed in plant or manufactured with high-end process color graphics.

Preeminently Cost-effective.

One of the least expensive containers ever developed, the overall cost of corrugated shipping containers is usually a small fraction of the value of the goods they carry.

The cost of labor and tools required to produce, fill, and move the container is low. The cost of shipping is low, due to lower tare weights and higher fill densities than alternative packaging. The trend toward using even lighter-weight materials (also referred to as lightweighting) will continue to drive down shipping costs. Low raw material costs and mass production of corrugated containers makes them particularly cost-efficient.

The ultimate contribution to cost reduction is when corrugated is used as an all-in-one shipping, storage, advertising and display medium – a growing trend both in warehouse and other retail stores.

Environmentally Responsible.

Corrugated, made from a natural renewable resource, has a great environmental record. Corrugated is almost always manufactured using high percentages of recovered fiber (including old orrugated containers, kraft, old newspapers and mixed paper), thereby diverting these materials from the municipal solid waste stream.

In 2015,  92.9 percent of all containerboard produced was recovered and recycled in the U.S. Corrugated has the best recycling rate of any packaging material used today. And that’s what happens after the corrugated box has been used and reused time and time again to store and move items around the home, store and office.

Water-based inks are now used almost exclusively for printing graphics on corrugated containers, avoiding the use of lead-based inks and solvents.

In addition, the use of corrugated constructions with high-performance linerboard has led to a significant overall reduction in basis weight and a significant source reduction of raw materials.

Source : www.corrugated.org